Welcome to Sister V's Recipe Page - This is a subpage of Sister Vegetarian's Blog. Travel the world with Sister in her kitchen...India, Japan, China, The Middle East, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mexico, South America, Italy, UK, France, Russia, and more.

What to Expect from Sister Vegetarian Recipes...

Sister Vegetarian knows the importance of nutrition without breaking the bank. In lieu of this, I keep the meals to a cost that anyone can create and still stick to a budget. I also include raw vegan meals. Sister has acquired a Raw Vegan Chef Certfication through The Raw Food Network-Ekaya Institute of Living Food Education. I love to cook meals from Africa, India, the Middle East, Greece, Italy, and the list goes on. When I cook, I call it traveling the world without leaving my home. I see cooking as a way to experiment and learn about other cultures, as I also learn more about my roots.

Enjoy the meals. Enjoy the travel. No Passport Required. Just an appetite for delicious and healthy meals.

Peace & Love, Sister Vegetarian.

Monday, May 2, 2011

I always loved sushi, and I am pleased that I can still enjoy this meal as a vegan by using the many colorful vegetables abundantly available to us at farmers' markets, whole foods establishments, and mainstream grocery stores.

Until recently, although you know Sister loves to cook, I still purchased my vegan sushi rolls rather than make my own. One day as I ate my sushi and joyfully licked my lips... and fanned my mouth from the wasabi...okay...and, drank lots of water from the wasabi, I realized that I was throwing too much of my hard earned money on something where I could challenge myself and make at home.

I found out that a package of 10 roasted seaweed which is the wrap for sushi starts at $1.69. I made sure that my ingredients said only seaweed. I also purchased a vegan wasabi. Thank goodness that I always read the contents of everything unless otherwise stated as vegan because one package of wasabi that I picked up had milk as an ingredient. I put that down fast. I found a squeeze tube of wasabi paste that was vegan. Always, check your wasabi ingredients.

I was always aware that I had sushi recipes in two of my vegan cookbooks, but I shyed away from reading the recipes because I thought that making sushi would be painstakingly difficult. NOT! Well...let Sister keep paying for something that she knows sooner and would bite her wallet, and it did! I said I can do this. Sister...I said to myself...fear not! You will make this sushi beg for your mercy and say..."you are the woman!" It did! Or, at least that's what I think it said after I made my first sushi this past weekend. Making my own sushi was so easy and quick, that you can even make it after work. Even better, have some cooked rice on hand stored in your refrigerator and you can always have the main components of sushi that takes the longest (only 30 minutes top if using Japanese sushi rice) at hand for a quick sushi meal. Normally I would do a cookbook challenge since I did rely on recipes from 2 cookbooks as a premise on what to do; but, I made this sushi and raw marinated seaweed salad (okay actually shredded collards was used in its place to simulate fresh seaweed) my own recipe by deciding to just be creative and use what I had on hand rather than what the recipe stated as well as adding my own creative changes, twists, and turns. . The marinated seaweed (shredded collards) was from memory of remembering a restaurant version of marinated seaweed that I had a few months ago. I also upped the ante and made my own pickled ginger since no sushi is without picked ginger. Sure you can purchase pickled ginger but again it's expensive, and sometimes it looks as though it has been sitting for months on the grocery store shelf. Sushi without pickled ginger is like having a car without tires! Just take my word...make the pickled ginger. It's awesome!

Without further yada...yada...yada from Sister, I present to you Sister's Original Vegan Sushi, Pickled Ginger, and Marinated Seaweed Salad (okay again...please stop reminding me...I used shredded Collards to simulate fresh seeweed)

Sushi Condiments:Wasabi * optional (note: Wasabi is HOT. Use discretion if using. If you are not familiar withwasabi-this is a warning of its hotness)Braggs Liquid Amino in place of soy sauce

Water in a dish (to keep hands wet in adding rice and rolling sushi)

Bamboo sushi bamboo roller or wax paper (I did not have a sushi bamboo roller, so I rolled my sushi tight using wax paper and firm hands. The sushi roller is not necessary. People have rolled sushi in their homes using paper towels! Rolling is all in the hands!)

Directions:1. First cook rice according to package instructions2. When rice is done, transfer to a bowl. Add 1 TBSP rice vinegar. Toss with rice. Place rice aside and cover with a cloth to cool down for 15 minutes3. Cut up your vegetables if you have not done so already4. Place a sheet of nori on the wax paper.5. Dip hands in water dish to moisture so rice and nori will not stick to hands.Add about 1 cup of rice, and spread on nori with a spoon or hands. Do not spread all the way to one end (leave at least 1 inch of no rice on an end of the nori.6. Add shredded collard, slices of vegetables, avocado, and pickled ginger7. start starting with the side where the ingredients go all the way to the end. Using using a bamboo sushi roller, roll according to the instructions for the roller. If using wax paper as I did, I rolled the sushi until the first roll folder over and touched the next layer of stuffing. I then held the rolled sushi tight in both hands, and pressed firmly to form a perfect secure roll before rolling again. Lift up the wax paper to make sure you do not roll it into the sushi ingredients, and roll again to touch the next layer of stuffing. Roll to the end of the 1 inch of nori where no stuffing was added.8. Place sushi aside to sit for at least 5 minutes to set and firm up a little before cutting. During this time, make another roll-repeat steps 4 to 8.9. Now, place sushi on a cutting board starting with the sushi you rolled first and slice into 6 to 8 pieces.10. Plate on dish. Serve with a small side dish of Braggs Liquid Amino (I used this in stead of regular soy sauce) and a stream of wasabi on plate with sushi (if using wasabi because wasabi is HOTTTTTT !!!!!!!-Sister can bear it...LOVE MY WASABI)Serve as an appetizer or a regular meal with a side dish of marinated seaweed (okay...okay...Sister's marinated shredded collards)

Directions:1. Use a mandolin slicer to slice ginger in thin strips2. place ginger in a glass jar ( I love being eco-conscious,so I reuse old glass jars such as my tahini or pasta glass jars)2. Add water until about 1 inch of water is above the ginger3. Add sugar, vinegar, and salt.4. Cover jar and shake.5. Refrigerate 1 hour.6. Ready to serve with sushi, salads, or other meals.

Sister's Original Raw Marinated Seaweed Salad (aka shredded collards) Recipe: The Nori used in combination with the collards give this salad a sea type taste if you do not have fresh seaweed available. The sauce is a Japanese marinade similar to the marinade used on seaweed salads in restaurants.

note: If fresh seaweed is hard to find as it was for me, I used collard leaves that I shredded. I have tasted Japanese style marinated seaweed in restaurants, so in my opinion, this original version comes very close. If you prefer the texture of seaweed, just cook the shredded collards in a little water for 10 minutes )more or less) until they become more bendable like seaweed. This make 1 serving, but you can increase the ingredients to make more.

Directions:1. Take 3-4 collard leaves and roll tight like a cigar on a cutting board. Slice thinly. Once unraveled, they will look like the size of maybe spaghetti2. Place collards in a one serving bowl3. Add cashews and crumbled nori (1 roasted sheet of nori). Toss all in bowl with hands.4. Make seaweed marinade (makes 1 serving, so increase ingredients of you need more):1-1/2 TBSP Braggs Liquid Aminos1-1/2 TBSP raw vegan sugar1 TBSP waterPlace in a dressing bottle (I recipe my bottles again here) and shake.5. Pour all of seaweed dressing on collards, and toss with hands.

Serving Sushi:Serve the sushi with the bowl of marinated seaweed salad (..I know..I know..it's shredded collards), and a serving of more pickled ginger.

Don't forget your sushi condiments of Braggs Liquid Amino (in lieu of soy sauce) and wasabi (*caution: wasabi is very HOT. Use only if you can take the HEAT!)

And...the last thing to make this meal seem as though you have traveled to Japan for the day - Sake! Sake is a rice wine traditionally served with sushi. I purchased a bottle of Sake from a California Vineyard for $7.99 at Total Wine. A very good Sake for the price! I served my Sake in the traditional Japenese style - warm. I left the bottle at room temperature to keep it warm. I warmed up a Japanese style mug and poured in the Sake. Tradition served up in Sister's kitchen without leaving the U.S.